In May 2015, Premier Christy Clark announced the appointment of the 19-member team, plus several special advisers, that included an impressive cross-section: MLAs, academics, mayors, business leaders, environmentalists and First Nations chiefs.
The team’s mandate was to provide recommendations on maintaining B.C.’s climate leadership, updates to the province’s climate action plan, relationships with First Nations and collaboration with local governments.
The team was directed to complete its work by Nov. 30, 2015, which it did. The government promised to review the recommendations and form a final plan by March, which it didn’t.
That inaction has angered some of the team’s members, seven of whom put their name to a commentary in the Times Colonist this week calling on the government to follow through with its climate plan.
When a government appoints a panel to advise and make recommendations, it is not obligated to implement all the recommendations, but it should acknowledge the work of the panel and explain what it intends to do.
It’s an uneasy and difficult task to balance economic and environmental concerns, and creating the leadership team was a wise move. Ignoring the team’s efforts, though, would be unwise.
It would send a message that forming the team was paying lip service to climate action, little more than a public-relations exercise.
